After Mystogan had calmed the crowd,
it was time to activate the reverse Anima for the sake of everyone in Magnolia Town.
This meant Edolas would lose all its magic entirely.
"No, you won't lose your magic," Jehfrit said.
"What?"
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"Ansa," Jehfrit continued. "He's a massive source of magic."
"But we can't control him," Mystogan pointed out.
"I have a plan," Jehfrit replied. "However, maintaining the floating islands is out of the question. While Ansa's magic surpasses that of Magnolia Town, sustaining an entire world's operation is impossible."
"So what good is having just a small amount of magic left?" Mystogan frowned.
"It'll be useful—for me and for you," Jehfrit said cryptically, but he didn't elaborate further.
"If you can make it work, then give it a try," Mystogan nodded.
"You can start reversing the Anima now," Jehfrit instructed.
"Alright." Mystogan went to prepare.
Jehfrit carried Ansa away from the group.
"Miko, transform him."
"Yes."
Miko possessed a unique ability tied to a special mission:
She could send off demons—converting their essence into unclaimed natural magic energy.
Jehfrit's idea was to use a principle similar to Tiffanya's red-thread locks, binding this natural magic across dimensions to himself.
This way,
he could achieve something extraordinary—
The demon's body dissolves → turns into natural magic → people use and consume the natural magic → the consumed magic regenerates → Jehfrit imbues it with emotions, reforming it into a demon.
And so the cycle would continue.
From this, he'd gain three major benefits—
One: The magical power of a powerful demon.
Two: If this method succeeded, Jehfrit could replicate it multiple times, allowing him to either create his own demons or convert Zeref's demons into his slaves.
Three: This was his hypothesis for the third stage of Deception Magic.
After dealing with Ansa, Jehfrit realized that at his current level, he could only handle opponents like the Spriggan 12—not Acnologia or Zeref. Was he really going to endure half an hour of punishment before making a comeback?
But if he could elevate his Deception Magic to another tier,
he'd feel confident facing those two.
Before Ansa's body could fully dissolve,
Jehfrit transferred his magic over, infecting Ansa at an atomic level.
It was a massive undertaking, draining both mentally and physically.
But Jehfrit succeeded.
As Ansa's magic dispersed,
it was as though Jehfrit gained a more complete domain-like ability.
Within this range, he controlled all the magic.
In this area, he was practically omniscient and omnipotent!
Jehfrit grew excited.
Once the Anima reversed and all the magic was drained into Earthland, this land would become like an empty bottle. At that point, the magic under his control would seep into this world!
Bringing this entire world under his dominion!
"Miko!"
Jehfrit exclaimed excitedly, "I'm leaving a door here!"
"?" Miko tilted her head slightly.
Saying it, doing it!
Jehfrit immediately sought out Mystogan, requesting all the data on the Anima.
The others watched him bustling about, utterly perplexed.
After just finishing the battle, with his dislocated arm freshly reset, he wasn't resting at all. What was he so excited about?
By the time Jehfrit had gathered all the data,
the Anima was ready.
The magic circle reversed.
All the magic in the world was transferred to Earthland, except for the magic Jehfrit had infected, which he stored and handed over to Mystogan to deal with as he saw fit.
Mystogan didn't actually want it. What use was keeping some magic? It might as well not exist.
But Jehfrit insisted strongly, telling him more magic would "return" in the future.
Accepting a world without magic was a reluctant necessity, but since Jehfrit had spoken, they chose to hold onto a sliver of hope.
At that moment,
Queen Shagotte of Extalia's voice echoed from the sky: "After this battle, we Exceeds deeply reflected on our past actions. Here, I apologize to humanity—"
"I'm sorry!"
"But for the safety of our race, we've decided not to remain in the Kingdom of Edolas."
"King Jellal, from now on, there will no longer be gods above your heads."
"Thank you, Queen Shagotte," Mystogan responded.
The people watched the Exceeds transforming and leaving, their emotions complex.
From now on, there would no longer be gods above their heads!
*Hum*
Jehfrit and the others also felt the pull.
"What a pity," Ed-Jehfrit said. "We didn't even get to have a proper drink together."
"You can drink?!" Jehfrit's eyes lit up.
"Of course, I love drinking," Ed-Jehfrit replied.
"Hahaha!!!" Jehfrit burst out laughing, as if he himself were a drinker. Then he asked, "Are you good at fishing?"
"Average, I guess," Ed-Jehfrit shrugged.
Jehfrit started to look disappointed until Ed-Jehfrit casually added, "I'm not great at fishing—I usually catch about a hundred pounds a day."
"Did you hear that? Did you see that?!" Jehfrit shouted to the Fairy Tail group. "I told you I'm amazing at drinking and fishing!"
"No, Jehfrit," Gray shook his head. "This just makes you look worse. Same name, yet he's clearly amazing, and you—"
"Gray..." Jehfrit narrowed his eyes, his body radiating ominous magic.
Gray promptly shut his mouth.
"Lisanna!" Ed-Mirajane called out, "Go home, back to your world! Don't worry about us!"
"Mira-nee, I'm sorry... Goodbye..." Lisanna said her farewells and began crying in Mirajane's arms.
The two Mirajanes exchanged tearful glances, then waved goodbye.
After a brief hesitation, Laxus called out, "Laxus, train hard."
"Yes, I will! I'll learn from you!" Ed-Laxus shouted back.
"No, don't learn from anyone. You're Laxus. Your goal is to surpass yesterday's self. That's how you become unbeatable!" Laxus declared.
"Laxus is bragging again," Jehfrit nudged Lisanna.
"Blah blah blah," Lisanna wiped her tears and stuck her tongue out at him. "Laxus-nii is way cooler than you, Jehfrit-nii!"
"My heart hurts," Jehfrit clutched his chest dramatically. "That hurts! Isn't it obvious that I've always been the one spoiling you more?!"
"Hmph," Lisanna turned her head away in mock pride.
"Lucy—" Ed-Lucy said, "It's unfortunate that both our partners are idiots. Let's have a competition—whoever wins first gets bragging rights!"
"Huh?" Lucy blinked, then noticed Ed-Lucy tucking Ed-Natsu under her arm. She immediately understood and retorted, "I'm not competing in something so pointless."
"Compete in what?" Natsu chimed in.
"Not your business!" Lucy blushed furiously.
"Is that so?" Natsu scratched his head.
"Still the same old dummy, right, Charle?" Happy looked at Carla.
"You're one to talk, Happy," Carla replied haughtily.
"Waaaah, Jehfrit!" Happy turned to Jehfrit for help. "Didn't you say that saving a damsel in distress would guarantee success?"
"Isn't that progress?" Jehfrit chuckled.
"Not really," Happy looked confused.
"A master's traits reflect in their cat, huh, Gajeel?" Lily, now tiny, sat perched on Gajeel's shoulder.
"Yeah."
"???" Laxus stared at the black cat on Gajeel's shoulder. Noticing Laxus' gaze, Gajeel tilted his head proudly.
Laxus glanced at Natsu and Wendy.
Suddenly realizing something,
his expression darkened.
"Meow—" Lisanna transformed into her cat-girl form and leaned toward him.
"...," Laxus silently turned his head away.
"Grrr!" Lisanna bit down angrily on his arm.
"...,"
"..."
"..."
"Wendy!" Ed-Wendy called out, "Believe in yourself—you'll grow stronger!"
"I will!" Wendy responded confidently.
She looked at Ed-Wendy, who was the tallest among the girls and had a curvaceous figure—Wendy felt inspired!
"Goodbye, everyone!" Both sides shouted their farewells.
*Hum*
The pull intensified.
Everyone was transported away.
*BOOM*
All of Magnolia returned.
Fairy Tail's members landed in the wilderness.
*Plop*
With Miko as a cushion, Jehfrit lay sprawled on top of her.
"We're back!"
Natsu jumped up, cheering loudly.
Though they were sad to part with their friends from Edolas, returning home filled them with excitement.
"What an incredible journey," Lucy sighed wistfully.
Laxus' head swiveled around, as if searching for something.
"Meow!" Lisanna circled around him, calling out.
But he coldly pushed her aside—he wanted a cat, not a cat-girl.
"Alright, alright," Mirajane laughed, pulling Lisanna back.
"Hmph, Laxus-nii is such a big dummy!" Lisanna pouted. "I'm ignoring you."
With that, she turned and threw herself into Jehfrit's arms. "Jehfrit-nii, am I right?"
"On this matter, my stance has always aligned with yours," Jehfrit affirmed, pretending to look hurt. "But didn't you just abandon me?"
"Hmph, nope," Lisanna cooed sweetly.
"Tch." Laxus transformed into a bolt of lightning and disappeared.
"Lisanna..." Everyone looked at her, tears streaming down their faces.
"Levy, everyone..." Lisanna turned around and smiled at them.
"Lisanna!" Levy rushed forward, and the others surrounded her.
They hadn't had time to talk earlier due to the battle, but now they finally could.
"Sniff sniff," Elfman cried.
"There, there," Evergreen consoled him, wiping away his tears gently.
"By the way..." Carla looked at Queen Shagotte. "Why did you come here?"
"Because Mr. Jehfrit invited us," Shagotte admitted honestly.
"Uncle!" Happy spotted the kindly farmer couple who had taken care of them earlier and ran over to greet them.
"You sent soldiers after Happy and me before," Carla reminded them bitterly.
"Well..." Shagotte apologized sincerely. "I'm very sorry."
"At the time, Her Majesty thought the prophecy would inevitably come true—the Kingdom of Extalia would eventually fall. So she wanted to send you away..." Byro explained.
"I've always said this," Jehfrit interjected. "Prophecies are unreliable. You both saw the prophecy of the floating island crashing—it crashed, sure, but no one was harmed."
"And when you saw everyone being killed, it was all my Deception Magic."
"...," Carla couldn't argue—Jehfrit was absolutely right.
All her prophecies had technically come true—
The floating island fell, but the Exceeds had already come to Earthland anyway. Who cares if the island fell or not?
Jehfrit and the others were "killed," yes—but that happened during Jehfrit's full-powered fight against Ansa. He simulated attacks from the entire guild, and within the illusion, Ansa "killed" everyone. Yet that scene became part of the prophecy.
So...
Her prophecy amounted to nothing!
"Moreover, there's some truth I need to tell you all, especially you, Carla," Shagotte said seriously.
The final mystery unraveled.
There was never any "mission." Carla's so-called mission—was merely her visions of the future, which she mistook as destiny.
As for the young Exceeds sent to Earthland, it was to preserve the seeds of civilization.
"So..." After hearing Shagotte's explanation, Carla looked at the face that resembled hers closely, blushing slightly. Pretending to be puzzled, she asked, "Then why do we all have prophetic abilities?"
"Ah..." Shagotte suddenly became flustered, unable to admit the truth. She shifted her gaze guiltily. "Why indeed..."
"Hmph," Carla huffed, grabbing Happy and walking away.
"Eh? Carla?" Happy, who had been happily chatting with the farmer couple, looked completely bewildered.
"Let's go, Happy. I'm hungry," Carla said, her tone laced with anger.
"Okay, okay," Happy nodded.
"In the future, please take care of us," Shagotte said to Happy's parents, who, despite hiding their identities, were clearly recognized by everyone.
"It's our honor," the blue cat replied.
So Carla was a princess after all… Happy sure has come a long way!